What Does Rat Urine Smell & Look like – How to Get Rid of It
What is that awful smell? Could it be Rat urine? Do Rats even Pee?
Those stains on your carpets just might be rat pee, and if it is, you need to understand how serious it can be and how to take to properly take care of it.
In this guide you will learn:
How to identify Rat Urine
What to wear when cleaning rat urine & How to Clean it
How to Get rid of Rat Urine smell & Prevent Rats from Peeing in your House
The Dangers of Rat Urine
A rat infestation in your home can be very, very serious and it can wreak havoc on your health if you go too long without doing anything about it.
What Does Rat Urine Smell Like
If you are wondering if rat urine smells, it absolutely does!
So what does rat pee smell like?
Rat pee consists of the same stuff our pee and our pets pee consists of, and that is urea and water. So, rat urine odor can actually smell close to the same as ours would.
Although, others will say that is has a stronger, muskier smell. The more there is, the stronger and nastier it’ll stink up your house.
This is something that you need to clean up as soon as you find it, because the longer it sits, the more potent it becomes.
You can also tell that the small puddles around your house is rat pee when it starts to change form the more it dries.
Over time, the calcium within this fowl smelling liquid starts to form tiny crystals that might resemble chalk in most instances.
Interestingly enough, your cat’s pee will also make this change over time, but your dog’s pee will not!
Identifying & Finding the Rat Urine
Other than the rather strong smell it can give off along with the tiny, chalk- like crystals, you can identify rat urine by noticing a thin looking line of dark, wet dots or streaks on your carpet or bags.
The main thing to look for though is the trail marks that their long tails make through their urine.
If you are wondering what does a Rat Infestation smell like…
Most rats are actually known to be very clean animals, but the rats that don’t know how to clean themselves tend to give off the potent smell of ammonia, or urine. This is the main way you can tell that you might have Rat Infestation even if you don’t see them.
Rats will normally leave their urine and their dropping in places where they can fit, since they’re a good bit bigger than your average mouse.
Rats bodies are longer and cylindrical in shape, so they are easily able to fit through small holes and cracks that lead into your home. They’re able to tell whether or not they can fit through a hole be determining the size with their whiskers.
Since they’re naturally a burrowing animal out in the wild, these are actions that come instinctively to them.
If they manage to find a hole they can squeeze through to get inside, and especially if they’ve found something they like inside, then they’re going to make themselves comfortable right away!
You can find rat urine by looking for their droppings, which are usually found to be close by.
Newer, fresh droppings will usually be browner in color and they will also be softer and moister. If the droppings are older, then the pellets will look dry, grey, and kind of dusty.
You can also tell that these are rat pellets because they are longer and more brick-like, while mouse droppings tend to be a lot smaller with pointed tips.
How To Get Rid Of Rat Urine Smells
Below are multiple ways you can clean up the rat urine in your home as well as getting rid of that awful odor it leaves behind.
Getting rid of the odor is probably one of the most important steps you can take when dealing with a rat infestation, because that odor in particular is very stubborn to get out, and it requires a good bit of patience as well as elbow grease.
In this section we will go over how to get rid of the rat pee smell in house, attic or car as well as see what is the best rat urine odor neutralizer.
This unpleasant odor can be particularly hard to eliminate from your home. The odor will even linger for a good while after you’ve handled the infestation, and that can be up to 2 or 3 weeks, depending on how long you left it sitting before cleaning.
One of the most common ways people have approached neutralizing this unpleasant odor is by using a mixed solution consisting of only 1 parts Bleach and 10 parts water and let it soak for 1 hour.
If you don’t happen to have any Bleach, you can also use 1 parts White Vinegar and 4 parts water and let it soak for 5 minutes.
Vinegar helps a lot with neutralizing the bad smell and it also dissolves the deposits, or body oils from the rat’s fur.
You can spray this mixture anywhere you need to then leave it to soak for the appropriate amount of time.
This same technique can also be used to Clean Rat Urine out of Carpets.
If looking For a Rat Urine odor Neutralizer…
If you feel comfortable using inorganic products in your home, then I highly suggest looking for the product, Rat Sorb.
While this is mainly used to neutralize dead rat smells, it can also be used to help get rid of the urine smell as well.
This product is indeed safe to use around your pets and children, but still be sure to wear your sanitary gloves when using this!
Simply take some cotton balls and moisten them well with the Rat Sorb, and apply a generous amount to wherever you see fit. You can also pour this into a spray bottle and spray it wherever you find the rat urine.
People who have used Rat Sorb have rarely ever had any complaints. The majority of consumers say that within 2 to 3 days, the rat smell is almost completely gone and all they can smell is the Rat Sorb.
When it comes to deodorizing your car and neutralizing it of the urine smell, always start by completely cleaning out your car first. Wipe down and spray any surfaces to clean them and vacuum the floors and the seats thoroughly.
You can use the same solutions as we mentioned above, 1 part Bleach and 10 parts water, or you could use your common disinfectant. If you don’t have any Bleach or disinfectant, then you can find them at just about any store or supermarket.
Getting rid of rat urine odor in your attic is the exact same at getting it out in your car and/or home. Just do not forget to wear your gloves and even a mask to protect you from any fumes.
Make sure to take extra precautions when cleaning your attic by making sure to wear a mask to protect your lungs from possible fumes as well as dust and dander.
What To Wear When Cleaning Rat Urine
Rat urine can be extremely dangerous to humans, so it is very important to always keep these safety measures in mind!
Make sure you wear a reliable and protective pair of sanitary gloves when dealing with rat urine. These gloves can be made from either vinyl, latex or rubbe Try to avoid thin, plastic gloves, as these can easily tear and the rat urine or feces could come in contact with your skin.
Although it’s not necessary every time, it would still be wise to were a face mask as well, especially if you will be dealing with a lot of chemicals like Bleach. Cleaning chemicals can be dangerous to inhale, to be sure to grab a mask before getting to work!
Lastly, wear clothes that you aren’t afraid of getting dirty while cleaning the rat urine or accidentally getting Bleach or vinegar on. Try to avoid being bare-foot or wearing open-toed shoes as well since the majority of the messes will be on the ground by your feet.
Make sure to wear socks and close-toes shoes when cleaning up rat both rat urine and feces.
How Long Does The Smell Of Rat Urine Last?
Rat Urine odor is very stubborn to get rid of and it can, unfortunately, last for up to three weeks and sometimes even longer than that.
If you absolutely can’t take the awful odor any longer and nothing else seems to be working, then it is probably time to call in a professional.
In case of Rat urine smell in walls…
It might be a costly decision though, as they might have to break through your walls and then rebuild all of the areas affected by the infestation.
Dangers Of Rat Urine
While the bites and scratches you can receive may lead to disease and rat-bite fever, the rat’s urine just might be even more harmful to us if we happen to come in contact with it.
You can absolutely get sick from Rat Urine!
Rat urine is most commonly known for spreading the disease, leptospirosis, or Weil’s Disease.
Catching this can very well lead to kidney and liver damage and even failure in some cases, so please take the right precautions when cleaning up the urine or hire a professional!
Can You Be Allergic To Rat Urine?
The answer would be yes, it is possible for you to be allergic to rat urine!
Since their pee contains different chemicals that have the possibility to rise into the air, this could easily set off an allergic reaction.
Breathing Rat urine can be Harmful!
When trying to identify rat urine as well as when you are cleaning it up, it is incredibly important to wear a mask!
Inhaling rat urine through your nose or mouth gives you the high possibility of catching HPS, or Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. First recognized in the United States in 1993, HPS is a very serious respiratory disease that is spread by, you guessed it, rat and mice urine and droppings.
Another serious illness a rat along with its feces and urine can bring to humans is the Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death. This is something we have all covered at least a small handful of times in our history classes back in the day.
The Black Death wiped out roughly 34% of Europe during the Middle Ages, when medicine was still at its early stages of development. Do not let this alarm you though, as medicine has come a very long ways since the 1300s.
While the Bubonic Plague is treatable now, it does require immediate hospitalization along with very strong antibiotics. If you notice symptoms of the Bubonic Plague after dealing with a rodent infestation, please visit your local hospital within the first 24 hours.
Symptoms consist of: swollen lymph nodes in groin, armpit, or neck, fever, headache, fatigue, chills, etc.
What Does Rat Poop Smell & Look Like
No need to worry, rat poop is actually quite easy to be able to identify.
First, you are going to notice that these black pellets will be scattered just about everywhere, but they will usually be in clusters, or groups, all in different areas.
They can be roughly olive sized, depending on the rat, and while you can most commonly find these droppings in your insulation, you can also find them on your floors and even pantries, attics, and crawl spaces.
If you’re seeing that much rat poop in your home, then you probably have a bigger infestation than you think.
If you notice the pellets are smaller than a grain of rice, then you are actually dealing with mice. If the pellets are bigger than a grain of rice, then you are indeed dealing with a rat infestation.
If the poop is fresh, then the darker and blacker in color it will be when you find it.
If the poop happens to be older, then it will look drier and grey in color. Determining how old the poop is will should give you a pretty good answer on whether the infestation is old or new.
As for the smell, rat feces has a strong, musky, and overall unpleasant odor to it, much like any other animal feces would have to it.
Mice VS Rat Pee – How To Tell Apart
Both rat and mice urine have about the same scent to them, which is that potent, musky smell along with the unpleasant hints of ammonia.
There is no way to reliably tell apart Mice pee and Rat Pee just by looking or smelling it.
Normally, rodents of any kind will leave tell-tale signs of infestations by leaving urine stains around your home.
These stains can look like tiny dots or streaks in your carpets and they will normally have the common “tail-drag” going straight through the urine, as they usually let their tails drag behind them as they scurry around.
Rat Urine Smell In Crawl Space
If you happen to be smelling rat urine in your crawl space, then it is probably time to actually get in there and give it a good cleaning!
This means that rats have found their way through your insulation and have been marking their territory in your crawl space.
You can easily get rid of this infestation by cleaning your crawl space well with disinfectant and enzymatic cleaners for rat urine such as Bleach, Clorox, or Rat Sorb.
Please remember to take the right precautions when cleaning rat pee by wearing vinyl, latex, or rubber gloves, along with a mask and protective goggles to prevent you from touching your eyes with your gloved hands.
Preventing Infestation & Rats From Peeing In Your House
It is very important that you be proactive with your pest control to prevent rats infesting your house and peeing in your house, and if you feel like this is too big of an infestation to handle on your own, then it is probably time to contact your local pest control.
Although, if you have managed to catch the rat infestation quickly, then you should easily be able to handle this without having to pay the pest control guy.
There are multiple ways to take care of a rat infestation quickly and efficiently on your own, and one of the most common ways is to set up rat traps and trap the current rats that managed to get inside.
You can place these traps along the common pathways you’ve noticed the rats like the take.
For trapping, the preferred method would be using the snap-style traps. These traps are built to kill the rodent quickly and with as little pain as possible.
Even though they are a nuisance, I know some of us wouldn’t want them to suffer.
Now it’s time to do some yard work! Start by cleaning up around your yard, both front and back if you happen to have both. The piles of clutter and debris you can see all around your yard are safe habitats for rodents as well as the bushes and shrubs around your house.
Remove all of the debris from your yard and throw away any trash you might see. If you are planning on planting bushes outside of your home, remember to plant them at least 3 or more feet away the home, as these can also be safe hiding places for rodents.
If you happen to have any overhanging trees in your yard, remember to trim them up and keep them properly pruned. This will prevent any rats from climbing through the branches and jumping onto your roof, getting in your house and ultimately leaving their urine!
If you have the means to, seal up any holes or cracks in your home by using rodent-proofing material, such as metal, stone, and solid concrete.
A safe and natural way to prevent rodents from getting into your home and peeing everywhere is to plant mint outside of your home and in your garden, if you happen to have one.
Rats, along with mice, tend to completely avoid the scent of mint.
You can even rub some peppermint oil along the inside of your house, including along your attic beams and and anywhere else you have experienced rodent problems.
When using this method, try looking for the places the rats have peed, and after safely cleaning the urine, spread the peppermint oil around the area. Remember to wear gloves!
If you’re looking for a new pet in the house, some people will go as far as to adopt a cat to help keep the rodents at bay!
It is also wise to invest in regular pest control. Not only will this prevent you from seeing even more rat urine in your house, you will also see a decrease in your common pests as well.
What is that awful smell? Could it be Rat urine? Do Rats even Pee?
